The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued proposed regulations under a
new statute requiring that, starting with transactions in calendar year 2011,
the gross amount of payment card and third-party network transactions be reported
annually to participating merchants and the IRS.
The provision was enacted as part of the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008
and is designed to improve voluntary tax compliance by business taxpayers and
help the IRS determine whether their tax returns are correct and complete.
“Time and time again, we have seen that better information reporting
helps the tax system work better by ensuring that everyone pays what they owe,”
said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “The new law gives us an important
new tool for closing the tax gap and also provides business taxpayers better
documentation to compute and report their income and expenses. The IRS will
work closely with stakeholder groups to ensure a smooth implementation of this
new program."
These proposed regulations, issued on November 23, propose rules to implement
reporting of credit card, debit card and similar transactions, as well as transactions
settled through third-party payment networks, such as third-party organizations
that settle online transactions. The IRS also released for comment a draft version
of new Form 1099K, Merchant Card and Third-Party Payments, which will be used
to make these reports.
The new law requires banks and other payment settlement entities to report
payment card and third-party network transactions with their participating merchants.
The IRS emphasized that individual cardholders are unaffected by this requirement,
and none of the cardholder’s personal information will be shared with
the IRS.
The IRS has created Form 1099-K, which is similar to the existing Forms 1099
used to report interest, dividends and other payments. The first information
return covering calendar year 2011 must be filed with the IRS and furnished
to participating merchants in early 2012. Among other things, the proposed regulations
describe who is required to file a return and which payment card and third-party
network transactions are subject to the reporting requirement.
The IRS is inviting comment on proposed regulations and the draft Form 1099-K,
which must be received by January 25, 2010. A public hearing is scheduled for
February 10, 2010, in Washington, D.C.
The IRS said that penalties for non-compliance with the new rules would be
mitigated in the early stages of their implementation, except in "particularly
egregious" cases.
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